Axes belonging to a Neolithic culture have been found in the north of Burkina Faso. The Bobo, the Lobi, and the Gurunsi are the earliest known inhabitants of the country. About the 15th century CE, conquering horsemen invaded the region from the south and founded the Gurma and Mossi kingdoms, in the eastern and central areas, respectively. Several Mossi kingdoms developed, the most powerful of which was that of Ouagadougou, located in the centre of the country. Headed by an emperor, the morho naba (“great lord”), the Ouagadougou Mossi state defeated attempted invasions by the Songhai and Fulani empires yet maintained valuable commercial links with major western African trading powers, including the Dyula, the Hausa, and the Asante.

European exploration and colonization

The German explorer Gottlob Adolf Krause traversed the Mossi country in 1886, and the French army officer Louis-Gustave Binger visited the morho naba in 1888. France obtained a protectorate over the Yatenga empire in 1895, and the French officers Paul Voulet and Charles Paul Louis Chanoine (also known as Julien Chanoine) defeated the morho naba Boukari-Koutou (Wobogo) of Mossi in 1896 and then proceeded to overrun the Gurunsi lands. The Gurma accepted a French protectorate in 1897, and in that same year the lands of the Bobo and of the Lobi were annexed by the French (though the Lobi, armed with poisoned arrows, were not effectively subdued until 1903). An Anglo-French convention of 1898 fixed the frontier between France’s new acquisitions and the northern territories of the Gold Coast.

The French divided the country into administrative cercles (“circles”) but maintained the chiefs, including the morho naba, in their traditional seats. The country at first was attached to Upper Senegal–Niger (as that colony was called from 1904 to 1920; now Mali) but was organized as a separate colony, Upper Volta (Haute-Volta), in 1919. In 1932 it was partitioned between Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and French Sudan. In 1947, however, Upper Volta was reestablished to become an overseas territory of the French Union, with a territorial assembly of its own. The assembly in 1957 received the right to elect an executive council of government for the territory, which at the end of 1958 was transformed into an autonomous republic within the French Community. When independence was proclaimed on Aug. 5, 1960, the new constitution provided for an executive president elected by universal adult suffrage for a five-year term and an elected Legislative Assembly.

Independence

Since Burkina Faso became an independent nation, the military has on several occasions intervened during times of crisis. In 1966 the military, led by Lieut. Col. (later Gen.) Sangoulé Lamizana, ousted the elected government of Maurice Yaméogo. Lamizana dominated the country’s politics until November 1980, when a series of strikes launched by workers, teachers, and civil servants led to another coup, this time headed by Col. Saye Zerbo.

Zerbo’s short-lived rule ended in November 1982 when noncommissioned army officers rebelled and installed Maj. Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo as president. The Ouedraogo government soon split into conservative and radical factions, with the radicals seizing power on Aug. 4, 1983. They set up a National Revolutionary Council (CNR), with Capt. Thomas Sankara as head of state.

A year after taking power, Sankara renamed the country Burkina Faso, meaning “Land of Incorruptible People,” and ordered all officials, including himself, to open their bank accounts to public scrutiny. His government was responsible for several concrete achievements: vaccination and housing projects, tree planting to hold back the Sahel, promotion of women’s rights, and curbing of waste in government.

During Sankara’s rule, tensions with Mali over the mineral-rich Agacher Strip erupted in a brief border war in December 1985. The dispute was settled in the International Court of Justice at The Hague a year later, to the satisfaction of both countries.

Initially a coalition of radical groups that included army officers, trade unionists, and members of small opposition groups, the Sankara regime gradually lost most of its popular support as power became concentrated in the hands of a few military officers—the most important of which were Sankara, Capt. Blaise Compaoré, Maj. Jean-Baptiste Boukari Lingani, and Capt. Henri Zongo. Popular support continued to decline, and on Oct. 15, 1987, a military coup overthrew Sankara, who was killed along with several others.

Compaoré took power at the head of a triumvirate that included Zongo and Lingani. However, as time went on, Lingani and Zongo disagreed with Compaoré about economic reform issues, and in 1989 they were accused of plotting to overthrow him. The two were arrested and quickly executed, and Compaoré continued to pursue his political agenda. In 1991 a new constitution was promulgated, and Compaoré was elected president in an election that was boycotted by opposition candidates.

Compaoré was reelected in 1998, 2005, and 2010. His regime, however, was not without opposition or controversy. Unpopular political and economic developments and the suspicious death in 1989 1998 of Norbert Zongo, a prominent journalist known for speaking out against Compaoré’s administration, contributed to periodic episodes of social and political unrest that continued into the 2000s. In October 2003 several people were arrested and accused of planning a coup to oust Compaoré. Meanwhile, economic troubles were exacerbated by the civil war that had begun in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire in 2002. The conflict disrupted an important source of trade for Burkina Faso as well as the livelihoods of several hundred thousand Burkinabé who had found work there. Compaoré’s administration also faced public discontent over high living costs, which lead to riots in February 2008, weeks of protests, and a general strike in April.

A wave of protests in early 2011 soon came to be seen as the greatest domestic challenge to Compaoré in more than two decades of rule. Beginning in February and continuing in the following months, many demonstrations were held by university students to protest police brutality—in particular, the December death of a student while in police custody. March saw the beginning of unrelated protests by Burkinabé soldiers reportedly upset about the arrests of and, in their opinion, unnecessarily harsh sentencing of some of their comrades. Then, on April 14, thousands of Burkinabé citizens demonstrated in the capital, Ouagadougou, over the rising cost of food and other necessities. Hours later there was a small-scale mutiny in the city by some soldiers protesting unpaid food and housing allowances and salaries.

Compaoré grew alarmed with the growing unrest, which was indicative of the increasing general displeasure with the country’s slow pace of economic progress and development and a lack of confidence in his regime. The military protests were of particular concern, as such demonstrations rarely occurred under Compaoré’s authoritative rule. In response to the growing discontent, he dismissed his government as well as military officials in key positions of leadership. His actions initially did little to appease any of the protesters as the army mutiny spread to other cities, where protesting soldiers were joined by other demonstrators, including the police, students, and other Burkinabés. Payment of some funds owed to the armed forces appeared to stem the immediate threat and halt some of the demonstrations. A few days later, in an apparent effort to reassert some control over the military, Compaoré named himself the new minister of defense.